Why Old Tech Feels More Trustworthy | Shop Talk #80

Shop Talk #80 explores why old technology often feels more understandable — and sometimes more trustworthy — than the systems we use today.

Dave and Glen dig into retro payphones, massive 1980s hard drives, cloud dependency, hardware ownership, restoration projects, and the strange comfort of machines that users could actually understand and repair themselves.

The discussion eventually expands into bigger questions about modern software complexity, AI systems, security vulnerabilities, and whether we’re slowly losing visibility into the technology we rely on every day.

This episode was built directly from viewer questions and comments.

Topics include:

#ShopTalk #DavesAttic #RetroComputing #AI #VintageComputers

00:00 - Hey im dave 00:30 - How did we come to this? 03:00 - Does Dave have a list of projects waiting to be done? 04:32 - Your channel is undoubtedly the most rewarding thing that came out of MS, 04:52 - You’re wearing socks and sandals? 05:23 - Wow , you’re awesome ! Can I come over and play? 06:13 - Where did you buy this phone and how did you find out about it? 07:04 - Wouldn’t it be possible to gut the innards of the phone and just wire it to a residential phone? 07:56 - Where can we get one, how much would it cost, and do you help with the setup? 09:08 - So does it work with actual phones or just your virtual phone network? 10:19 - If you call someone from that phone what does the caller ID say? 12:12 - Is your pay phone hardware susceptible to that old hack where a quarter is drilled with a small hole..? 13:03 - Are you going to get the payment card working? 13:55 - Where did you get KEYS ? 14:45 - “Does it even have games?” 15:22 - The key difference between this thing and the modern cloud services disease? … 15:56 - Your Decwriter has an odd color to it…? 16:39 - Did you have to modify the mains feed and/or add battery backup to protect against power failure to prevent damage? 17:21 - The hard disk only spins at 30-FIVE-00 RPM? 19:04 - What does the 3 foot long ribbon cable in the back connect? 19:28 - Do the front panel LEDs show anything meaningful? 19:42 - How much would this have cost brand new, configured this way, in 1979-1983? 20:24 - What are you testing in this video? Other than trolling the bad way of doing things? 20:37 - You (almost?) pulled out the FPU board from the powered on machine?! Whoa! 20:56 - Where’s your static discharge strap? 21:59 - Did that machine arrive that clean or did you have a marathon scrub-fest before starting it up? It’s incredibly dust-free. 22:28 - I watched this to hear a discussion about copyfail. Was it mentioned even once? 22:43 - Are you planning an episode on the recent Copy Fail vulnerability? 23:25 - Do big companies believe they know more of what the user ‘needs’ than the user compared to when we were all younger? 25:04 - This old fart wants nothing to do with AI in my day-to-day life. 25:29 - We should have been talking about this 30 years ago and we didn’t. Is it too late now? 26:08 - The thumbnail with Heather Locklear is pure comedy gold. Well done, sir. 26:58 - What is a toonie ? Loonies were/are a coin, but toonies ? 28:20 - What happened to Robotron: 2084 AI? 28:48 - Phil who? 29:44 - A a re-seat of the boards (snugly) with a blow from an air can will fix the problem. 30:38 - you know it’ll never boot again, right? 31:28 - What good is it if you can’t show it off, right? 32:42 - How long did it take to be able to make a call? 33:58 - Can you please make a video showing how you did it and where to get the firmware 34:13 - Has Dave’s wife ever asked Dave, WHAT did you buy now? 35:01 - Does it do anything without a disc pack inside? 35:34 - I enjoyed it greatly though I understood less than 50% of what you said. 36:44 - Why hasn’t this guy been given an honorary Doctorate? 37:33 - The Friendly Coder… 37:55 - Outakes, behind the scenes, he said WHAT?!?